A suit seeking the removal of the Ebonyi State governor, David Umahi, over his defection from the Propels Democratic Party, PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC, has been dismissed by an Abakaliki Division of the Ebonyi State High Court on Monday.
The suit challenging the defection of Governor Umahi from the PDP to the APC was brought before the court by Senator Sunny Ogbuoji, by way of originating summons, where he prayed the court to hold that Governor Umahi, having defected to the APC from the PDP through which he was elected ought to vacate the office of the governor upon defection.
The court held that the governor has not flouted any provision of the Electoral Act or the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to warrant his removal from office.
Recall that dumped the PDP on which platform he was elected for two terms as governor for the APC in November 2020.
The plaintiff also prayed the court to order for his swearing in, having come second in the 2019 election.
Senator Ogbuoji was the APC’s governorship candidate during the 2019 election.
But in his defence, Governor Umahi argued that the plaintiff was relying on the pre-election/election qualification issues, which ought not to be.
The governor further argued that there is no provision in the constitution that provides for defection as one of the grounds for the vacation or removal of a person as governor or as Deputy Governor.
He cited certain judicial pronouncements on similar matters, especially, at appellant courts.
Delivering judgement, Justice Henry Njoku, noted that the plaintiff did not come through relevant rules of court to institute the originating summons.
The judge said that the irregularities notwithstanding, the court decided to entertain the suit in the interest of justice.
The court held that having regard to section 188 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the defendant (Governor Umahi) has not offended any provision of the Constitution or the Electoral Act in his defection to APC.
Further, the court held that having regard to section 308 of the Constitution, the governor is covered by the immunity clause, and as such it was wrong to institute criminal or civil proceedings against the office of the governor.
Justice Njoku, therefore, dismissed the suit in its entirety, for lack of merit.
He also awarded N500,000.00 as damages against the plaintiff.
Reacting to the ruling, the lead counsel to the defendants, Barr. Roy Umahi, said that he didn’t see the judgement any differently other than what he had read from several law reports.
He said, “Every constitutional provision relating to the office of President and Vice president, they are corresponding provision relating to the Governor and his Deputy.
“As far back as 2007, the Supreme Court had ruled that there are no consequences for President and Vice president defecting from one political party to another. That also applies to the Governor and his Deputy.
“The summary is that the Governor and Deputy can defect to any political party at any time, even if it’s a day after election.”
